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Drivers Urged to Report Other Motorist’s Poor Driving

This week, drivers have been urged by police to report poor driving by other road users to the police in a clampdown on driving offences.

Motorists are urged to report a wide range of both offences and examples of poor driving or driver error. These range from speeding, lane hogging, undertaking, road rage, talking on the phone whilst driving, and even bad parking.

According to Sussex Police, who are trialling the scheme at the moment, “anyone ‘caught’ by other motorists twice in a year as part of ‘Operation Crackdown’ could face disciplinary action…this could include a home visit or a warning letter”.

As threatening as a warning letter sounds, many people say that this is just another way of reducing privacy and it allows people with a grudge to bear to get other motorists into trouble.

Even thought the scheme would allow motoring offences to be seen and reported, who’s to say that motorists would report anything they want, even if nothing was seen?

Dylan Sharpe, a prominent member of the campaign group Big Brother Watch, warned that Operation Crackdown is “based on unfounded accusations by untrained and possibly prejudiced members of the public”.

Other motorists have even said that the new scheme is another step forward towards a dictatorship similar to that of both the Nazis and Stalin’s Russia, where people were reported for ‘acting suspiciously’.

Despite unhappy motorists making their voices heard, Sussex Police have said however that “1,047 drivers have had sanctions imposed on them including 28 for driving while under the influence, 175 vehicles have been seized for being driven without insurance, 376 have been reported to the DVLA for document offences and local councils have seized 64 vehicles for not having current road fund licence”.

They also said that: “We have already received 20,488 reports from the public. Warning letters have been sent to 2,695, while a further 1,047 have been sanctioned for offences such as having an out-of-date tax disc.

If the scheme is deemed successful, there is the possibility that it could be rolled out nationwide.